Adventurer & Icu Doc

Book excerpt: Born in Sweden in 1929, Ake Grenvik grew up in an educated home during WW II. With limited family finances, he mostly worked his way through all his school years with his first paid job at age 12. In his senior years in high school, during summer vacation, he served as a deck boy on ships traveling to the United States. As a successful student with high grades, he was admitted to medical school in Stockholm, directly upon graduation from high school. Training first in general then cardio-thoracic surgery, he joined the Swedish Air Force Reserve with traditional pilot training for physicians to become a flight surgeon. He also worked as a ship doctor on a large passenger ship during a cruise around the Pacific Ocean. After three years of clinical research as a cardio-thoracic surgical resident in Uppsala with magna cum laude evaluation of his published thesis, he was recruited to the Critical Care Medicine Division at the Medical School in Pittsburgh and brought this to a world leading training program for ICU physicians. He became one of the few founders of the Society of CCM. As a most reputable pioneer in this field, he was invited as a speaker to medical schools around the world. This gave him the opportunity to visit various national parks and wonders worldwide. He published nearly 400 medical articles, including 27 books and was promoted to Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Upon retirement at age 80, he devoted his time to the care of his wife and lifetime partner until her death from a serious stroke. At that time, he decided to write his memoirs, encouraged to do so by his mentor and partner in Pittsburgh.